Campus Fire Drill and Safety Training Schedule Set

The UT Dallas Department of Environmental Health and Safety has planned a series of fire drills this semester that will focus on high-occupancy buildings.

The drills are are being ordered to ensure that all students and employees can quickly and safely evacuate from the buildings when necessary.

The first drill was Friday, Aug. 14, at Cecil H. Green Hall. One will follow on Friday, Aug. 21, at the Natural Science & Engineering Research Laboratory (NSERL). The campus’ other largest buildings will have drills in the semester’s remaining weeks, with a handful more scheduled for January and February of 2010.

Each building will have a specific “Building Evacuation and Sheltering Plan” to be updated yearly. This document will be developed through the participation of the dean’s offices within each respective building and the participants of the Safety and Fire Evacuation (SAFE) Leader Program, in conjunction with the Office of Emergency Management.

The SAFE Leaders program was introduced in May 2009 to train campus employees to help evacuate buildings and shelter other employees and students.

Those that have already taken the initial SAFE Leader training in May are asked to attend additional training on their specific buildings’ fire drill dates.

SAFE Leader training will occur every Wednesday 10 to 11 a.m. at the EHS Building, followed by a fire drill every Friday for each building.

For more information on fire drills, contact Environmental Health and Safety at (972) 883-4111 and for the SAFE Leader Program contact the Office of Emergency Management at (972) 883-2420.